The foreign affairs adviser of Iranian spiritual guide Ayatollah Ali Khameini arrived here Tuesday to meet Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, officials said.
Ali Akbar Velayati was met by Zuheir Hamdan, director general of the Lebanese foreign ministry, at the Masnaa crossing point at the Lebanese-Syrian border, they said.
Velayati told reporters that he was carrying an oral message from Khamenei to Lahoud, but revealed no details.
The envoy, who was also due to meet with Prime Minister Salim Hoss and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, was expected to tour southern Lebanon, which was occupied by Israel until it withdrew its troops on May 24th.
Velayati had previously been in Damascus, where he met President Bashar Assad, Foreign Minister Faruq Shara.
Velayati also met in Syria three visiting leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, to whom he "expressed Iran's complete support for the Palestinian resistance and emphasized the need to liberate all of Palestine and not sell off Jerusalem.” – Beirut (AFP)
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